Helpful Harold

Before he entered the Roosevelt Cabinet in 1933 as Secretary of the Interior, Harold Le Clair Ickes used to be known as the Lone Wolf of Chicago politics. Because lone wolves have trouble hunting with the pack. Secretary Ickes publicly snarled through his clean fangs at NRAdministrator Johnson, WPAdministrator Hopkins, onetime Housing Administrator Moffett, many another member of the Roosevelt pack. But, devoted as he was to the New Deal, Lone Wolf Ickes really meant to be helpful to the Administration in his own slow, stubborn way.

Last week helpful Harold Ickes took time out for an attempt to smooth over a little diplomatic difficulty into which he had got the U. S. Last month, trying to back up the State Department's declaration that shipments of war materials to Italy were contrary to the spirit of the Neutrality Resolution, he had succeeded in giving the Press the clear-cut impression that as Oil Administrator he was opposed to shipments of oil to Italy (TIME, Dec. 2). This angered Italy, embarrassed the State Department, left the Administration out on a limb when the League of Nations postponed Oil Sanctions. Last week Secretary Ickes called in newshawks, pulled out the stenographic report of his previous press conference, tried to pin the blame for headline troubles on the reporters. He was, he said, opposed to shipments of '"munitions," not "materials" of war to Italy. Blissfully unaware that in the language of statecraft "munitions of war" is the phrase used to denote oil and other war materials as distinct from cannon, machine guns and other "implements" of war, he gave the Press clearly to understand that he had no intention of stopping oil exports.

That afternoon when the Press announced that the U. S. had changed its oil export policy Secretary Ickes again found himself in an embarrassment. Hastily he rushed out an explanation of his explanation: "I now observe that [my] effort to clarify a previous misunderstanding has been itself misinterpreted in some quarters. ... I have no intimation ... of any change in the Government's policy."

During the week Secretary Ickes made the following additional news: P: To help dispose of the growing supply of Government rum made by the Virgin Islands Co.. he announced that a specialist of his department was at work devising a cocktail recipe. Object was to stimulate sale of Virgin Island rum when it comes of potable age in 1940. P:Since 12,000,000 sq. ft. of floor space in 101 Government buildings plus 2,500,000 sq. ft. in 103 rented buildings is no longer adequate for the growing horde of New Dealers in Washington, Secretary Ickes. as purveyor of office space to the Government, declared he thought the Social Security Board, Coal Commission and other new boards & bureaus would find it best to go to Baltimore or some other nearby city temporarily. P: In the style of General Hugh Johnson. Mr. Ickes slipped off to Detroit to deliver a speech assaulting anti-New Dealers. Excerpts:

"In the bright lexicon of the exploiting class, there is no place for such expressions as 'right' or 'justice' or 'fair play' or 'equality'. . . . When they are not posturing as defenders of the U. S. Treasury, these gentlemen are posing as discoverers of the U. S. Constitution. . . . One is almost persuaded to believe that if they were given the chance they would run the Government on nothing at all. As for the Constitution, undoubtedly they would give it for safekeeping into the hands of the Liberty League, which would wrap it in cotton batting and appoint as its guardians those vestal virgins of 'Liberty,' Messrs. Shouse, du Pont, Beck and Davis. . . . "To detract attention from the threadbareness of the prayer rug upon which those who hunger for power have cast themselves upon their craving knees they meet a political crisis with a slogan, a serious argument with ; shibboleth."

Harold Ickes' lexicon of shibboleths:

"Brain Trust--A term of derision applied to men of special training, who put that training at the service of their Government. The expression had great vogue for a considerable period beginning in 1933 and caught the popular fancy because up to that time government had not depended overmuch upon brains, but upon other portions of the human anatomy.

"Soak the Rich (Antonym: Soak the Poor)--Newspaperese for a system of taxation founded upon the absurd and revolutionary theory that a man should be assessed taxes in proportion to his ability to pay.

"Liberty League--A term of unconscious humor applied to itself by a group of multimillionaires and their worshipful hangers-on who indignantly insist that the Federal Constitution is an instrument written by Alexander Hamilton for the exclusive protection of large aggregations of property, howsoever acquired.

"Rugged Individualism--The quality of aggrandizing one's self at the expense of others. Synonyms: Dog Eat Dog; The Devil Take the Hindmost; Grab While the Grabbing is Good.''

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